Storms Spawn Hope For Kokanee Rain Gives Biologists Higher Lake Levels Sought For Experiment

Mother Nature did what the Corps of Engineers said it could not do this fall.

She kept the level of Lake Pend Oreille several feet higher, to the delight of state fish biologists. They’ve been wanting more water in the lake to provide more shoreline spawning areas for the lake’s dwindling kokanee salmon population.

“We got up to high water just about the peak of spawning,” said research biologist Melo Maiolie.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has asked for several years that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which controls the lake level, keep more water below Albeni Falls Dam in the fall. The department finally got the support of the Northwest Power Planning Council for a three-year kokanee experiment that would have kept the lake three feet higher this winter.

But the corps couldn’t reach an agreement with the owners of downstream hydropower dams, which would lose money because less water would be going through their turbines at a time of year when electricity is especially valuable.

So the lake made its usual 11.5-foot drop in November. Then came storms, and high runoff.

The lake level rose 4.5 feet.

Scientists are conducting their annual search for kokanee nests. They’ll check about a third of the shoreline, said biologist Steve Elam.

But they won’t know how much the higher water level helped the fish until next summer, when they count young kokanee in the lake.

Meanwhile, the Corps of Engineers has promised to work toward starting the lake-level experiment in 1996. Maiolie met Friday with representatives of the corps, the downstream utilities and others to firm up plans for the experiment. It now calls for three years of 5-foot increases.

Maiolie said he’s optimistic that, after years of discussion and delay, the experiment will start next year.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo